Steady traffic on Track-II

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, FEB. 21 Unlike Track-I, which has remained closed since the February 1999 Lahore busride of the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, Track-II diplomacy has proved to be consistent in providing a platform for experts and intellectuals from both the countries to exchange views.

After the Neemrana group that met here earlier this month, it is the now turn of retired military officers from India to come over on a week-long trip for interaction with their Pakistani counterparts.

A group of 21 former Indian military officers headed by Admiral L. Ramdas would be here from February 23. The group would participate in a number of meetings and interactive sessions in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The visit has been organised by the India-Pakistan Soldiers' Initiative for Peace (IPSIP). A group of Pakistan military officers were in India recently on the invitation extended by the Indian chapter of the forum.

The hosts have chalked out a hectic schedule. According to the coordinator of the visit, Brig. (Retd.) Rao Abid Hamid, who is also associated with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the basic objective of the forum is to explore ways of restoration of peace between the neighbours.

The Indian group is to take part in a discussion being organised by the English Speaking Union's Lahore chapter on February 24, in which retired Pakistani military officers and diplomats are expected to take part.

In Islamabad, the group would have an opportunity to interact with former Pakistan Army chief, Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, former President, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, Sardar Abdul Qayyum, and Tehrik-I-Istaqlal Chief, Air Marshal (retd.) Asghar Khan.

On February 28 the delegation is to take part in a discussion on `Impediments in Pakistan-India Relations'. They are also expected to attend a meeting of the Pakistan-India Forum for Peace and Democracy and Pakistan Peace Coalition in Islamabad.

Track-III too

Ms. Tara Bhattacharjee, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, is another Indian personality currently on a visit to Pakistan. She is associated with non-governmental organisations engaged in promotion of handicrafts and has come here essentially for an interaction with the common people. Her visit could be bracketed in the category of `Track-III', people-to-people contacts.

Organisers of the Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Development, who had organised a face-to-face with Ms. Bhattarjee on Tuesday, experienced some anxious moments as a section of the gathering sought to convert it into a official meeting between India and Pakistan to settle the Kashmir dispute.

What must have added to the discomfiture of the organisers is the presence of the Indian High Commissioner here, Mr. Vijay K. Nambiar, on the dais along with the chief guest. In her brief speech Ms. Chatterjee stressed on the need for the people of India and Pakistan to come together and how the traditional handicrafts could be the bridge for the process. As soon as she finished, some in the audience began to seek her views on the Kashmir conflict.

A reminder from the organisers that Ms. Tara Bhattacharjee neither represented the Government of India nor any political party only provoked a member of the audience to remark that organisers ``want to listen to only what they want to listen''.

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